


Burn the Past to Build the Future

by DemonNovak



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: All other relationships are minor, F/M, Firefighter Theo Raeken, Good Theo Raeken, Liam Dunbar is Theo Raeken's Anchor, M/M, Multi, Theo Raeken is Liam Dunbar's Anchor, Theo Raeken-centric, at least thats the plan, derek and stiles are a slow burn, im honestly not sure yet - Freeform, it starts with stiles and lydia, it's all a bit slow burn I think, it's just mainly thiam, so are lydia and jordan
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:00:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28043562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DemonNovak/pseuds/DemonNovak
Summary: After graduating senior year, Theo had no idea what to do with himself. Liam, arguably his only friend, was busy with college, his housing situation could be better. Then there was the crushing guilt of his past that haunted him day in and day out. He wanted to prove he was better - that he had changed. Eventually, he came to a decision, he was going to apply to become a firefighter.
Relationships: Corey Bryant/Mason Hewitt, Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Jordan Parrish & Theo Raeken, Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken, Lydia Martin/Jordan Parrish, Lydia Martin/Stiles Stilinski, Scott McCall/Malia Tate
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	Burn the Past to Build the Future

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time doing chapters and actually creating a whole plot line so bear with me and please let me know what you think. Thank you for reading!

The sky blurred with shades of red, pink, and orange. Only half the sun was visible now and it seemed to be speeding up, chasing night out of it's hiding. At least that's how Theo feels about the sunset. He's envious of those who can look at the falling sun and feel a sense of comfort or relish in it's beauty. Instead, he sits in the bed of his truck staring. The only thing he feels is dread. The night does nothing but torment him - either with nightmares or the rough knock against his window.

Being homeless isn't ideal. He's had a hard time landing a job without an address and honestly, there's no where for him to go. Beacon Hills doesn't exactly have a homeless shelter. He has no friends - well he has Liam. Liam with his everyone deserves a second chance attitude and the ridiculous need to see that Theo can be better - to show Theo that he can be better. He doesn't deserve it, he knows that. Liam's kindness has already been too much, Theo couldn't burden him with the fact that he's homeless. It'd be one more issue to fix. One more problem for the fill-in alpha to solve. He already does enough for Theo. Theo already takes too much. He knows it. He takes up everything that Liam is willing to offer. Every invite to hang out, every text, every ounce of attention - Theo eats it up. He can't stay away. He blames it on the beta's ability to constantly be in harms way, but he knows it's because he cares. Somewhere along the lines, after Hell, after the Ghost Riders, Liam became more important than anything else. Point is, Liam can't know that he's homeless because Liam already has enough to deal with and definitely not because of shame or embarrassment.

That leaves the issue of the night. Sometimes Theo will park at the preserve. Sometimes he'll go and park in one of the old parking lots that are only used by teenagers to make out. Sometimes he'll park at one of the parks in town, like he is now, watching the sunset behind the swings that shake lightly with the breeze. Maybe they move with sympathy, letting him know he's not alone, not the only one whose left on his own until he's needed for something. No matter where he decides to park for the night, one cop or another comes knocking at his window. They tell him to move, that he can't sleep there. He can't sleep anywhere. He's had to move five times in a night before, it makes no difference. There's no sympathy from the cops, each one that comes up to him just tells him to move. The only emotion they ever feel is pity. He can smell it wafting off of them as they make him leave. It's never enough to make them want to help him. He doesn't deserve the help he supposes.

Some nights he gets away with parking his truck in front of some random peoples houses and running off into the woods as a wolf. Those are the nights he can sleep the best. There's no villain outside to wake him up - only the one on the inside, but he's grown comfortable with that battle.

With a sigh, Theo jumps out of the bed of his truck. His worn boots smack hard on the pavement below. There's a slouch to his shoulders as he climbs through the passenger door and into the back seat. He tells himself it's just because he's tired. As he pulls the thin blanket tightly against his body, he tells himself it's just because he's tired. He falls into an uneasy sleep. The last thought on his mind is the debate of who will wake him first, an officer or his sisters torture?

The answer comes with light tapping against his driver window. Theo groans as he rubs the sleep away from his eyes and moves to seat. He puts his keys in and waves off the officer who knocks again anyways. As he rolls down his window and looks he finally registers the slight familiarity of the cops scent. Standing outside his truck is Parrish. Of course, Theo thinks, just my luck it's a friend of Scott's pack. Which means likeliness is, he'll tell him. Can't have the barely accepted enemy just wondering around in the night.

"Theo?" Parrish questions while shining his flashlight toward Theo's face. They hadn't had many interactions. Honestly it may have just been them meeting briefly once for something that Scott needed more than just immediate pack to help with. Parrish tries not to be too involved with all the supernatural business and honestly wouldn't consider himself Scott's pack, he'd rather just focus on his job. Maybe that's why when Theo sniffs the air there's no rotting scent of hatred or anger, just a small amount of pity and despite his doubt, there's the clear scent of concern in the air. "Are you living out here?"

Right to the point Theo notes. He rolls his eyes, "As if you don't already know." Theo tries to swallow that burning shame crawling up his throat at having to admit that he has no where to go. That he's homeless.

Parrish looks a bit shocked at the implications of is words, "Do you get woken up and told to leave often?"

He doesn't want to answer. Theo tries to push down the need to run and get far away from this conversation, from acknowledging this to anyone who knows him. He can't run, Parrish is a cop, so he wants to fall back on old habits, say something snippy and smart. He knows that's not a good idea. This guys a cop and could very well say something to Scott if he wanted to. Then there's the fact that Theo doesn't smell disgust or anger, just that concern and maybe that gives him some sort of hope - that there's someone out there who doesn't want him dead or gone, that maybe wants to help him and can see that he could be better. Because of this, Theo decides to answer honestly, "Every night."

"Do you have anywhere to go?"

"No."

"Maybe if you asked Scott fo-"

Theo cuts him off with a laugh, "He wouldn't help me."

Parrish sighs, "I know you did some wrong with them, but you were a kid and you didn't know. You're still young, Theo. They should be willing to see that." Theo doesn't understand how he can see it that way. He's not sure Parrish knows exactly what he's done because if he did there's no way he would be this kind to him.

"It doesn't matter. I did too much wrong. I'm evil," The last part comes out without him even noticing and he regrets it immediately. He doesn't understand why he's opening up at all to this guy.

"You don't seem very evil to me," Parrish pauses for a moment, seemingly thinking something over. "You shouldn't be sleeping out here, you not it's not safe - especially for us."

"I don't exactly have a choice."

"Look, I have some extra space at my place. You could stay with me and get back on your feet."

"No," He wishes it would have come out sounded more sure and not nearly as small as it did. The 'you couldn't possibly mean that' is on the tip of his tongue, followed by 'why would you want to help me.'

Somehow Parrish was able to sense the unsaid words within Theo's mind, "There's a lot of evil in the world Theo. Sometimes, good people have to do evil things and they don't always know how to come back from that. I don't think you know how, but you deserve a chance to try." Theo can understand why this guy became a cop because his heartbeat doesn't falter. He's being honest and wants to help and Theo cannot understand why. He just keeps thinking that there's no way he knows what he did, not really, because no one would help a monster like him.

Liam would, his brain remarks. Liam would and Theo knows it. Liam's the best person Theo knows and he's willing to be his friend and spend time with him. Liam's good and Liam's sincere, but Theo couldn't burden him with this. Parrish seems good, he sounds sincere, and now he knows how Theo is living, so maybe he is willing to help and then Theo doesn't have to burden Liam. Either way, Theo isn't ready to accept it.

"Thanks, but I can't," is all Theo says and he hopes it gets the point across enough. He's already opened up enough, he's not sure how much more he could say.

Parrish nods and pulls out a pad of paper, "Okay. Here's my number," he hands the paper over to Theo who slowly accepts it, "incase you change you're mind or need help with anything. I'm on patrol tonight in the area, you can stay here, no one else will come around and bother you." With that, Parrish gets back into his cruiser and leaves.

Theo sits in his seat and stares at the number in his hand for a good few minutes. Eventually he decides to put it in his contacts without any intention of actually using it. That's what he tells himself as he crawls back into the backseat to sleep with the smallest amount of security and the only bit he's had since he was a little kid.

\-------------

It's been a week since Theo spoke with Parrish and the nights have mainly gone the same - some cops wake him up, some nightmares wake him up, sometimes he hides as a wolf deep in the forest. Although the nights were bad, he spent a majority of the week with Liam when he could. Liam would call him between classes or text him at least. Liam had opted for online college because he couldn't bare leaving Beacon Hills. Theo wasn't complaining.

When Liam had all but begged Theo to come over on Wednesday because he was so bored of classes, Theo had poked fun at him, but had started his truck the moment Liam mentioned hanging out. He relished in Liam's attention. He liked the angry beta. He more than liked him, but he couldn't face processing those feelings right now. It would make them so real and he couldn't hide it, he couldn't hide the need to be next to Liam always, be more than just his friend. More than that, he couldn't bare loving with his sisters heart. It's not his give away. Though if anyone deserves it, if anyone could make him accept that he could use this heart, it would be Liam.

It was Saturday night now. Theo was parked in some random, old parking lot on the outskirts of town tonight. The pavement is all cracked with various weeds peeking their way from the dirt beneath and the parking lines are dulled to nearly nothing. Three of four sides of the parking lot is woods. Theo can't remember is there was ever actually something here. If there was it wasn't of any importance. He could relate to that it seems.

The soft sounds of the trees moving in the wind lulls him to sleep.

To his surprise, it's not a nightmare or knock that wakes him up. He jolts awake and for a moment, can't understand why. In his tired state, Theo recognizes the scent of disgust. It must be a cop coming up, Theo thinks. Then the wind picks up and the scent starts to burn his nose with it's strength and it mixed with such strong hatred and anger that his head starts to spin. It's too strong, there's so much of it. He listens and picks up too many heartbeats, too many steps. Hunters, his brain fills in.

Theo scrambles to get into the driver seat and start the car. They already know where he is so his best bet is to get away instead of stay still and try not to draw attention. They're too close. He can hear the steps move from dirt onto pavement. Not a second later they start to shoot. Bullets bounce off and through his truck. Theo's scared - he's alone. He can't register the hunters heartbeats, only his own pounding in his ears. It's his fear that fills the air. He's panicking. He knows that he is. He got the truck started though, so with his head ducked as much as possible, he slams on the gas. He's not sure what direction he's headed, but he doesn't hit a tree so he assumes he's on the right track. They don't stop shooting. They just keep unloading at him. Somewhere in the back of his mind he feels the way his shirt is started to get soaked. He doesn't feel anything expect fear.

Theo keeps driving even after he thinks the bullets stopped. He keeps going and he doesn't look up until he hears a horn and just manages to serve before smashing the car whose lane he had entered. He starts to slow down and really take in his surroundings. He's made it back into town and that makes his brain go haywire all over again.

Liam. Liam. Hunters. Liam. Hunters tried to kill him. Where's Liam. It's basically on repeat in his head.

He listens as close as he can and doesn't recognize anything that could suggest he was being followed. With that he peels off in the direction of Liam's house. Now, his heart is beating for someone else. The fear that's settled deep in him is that kind that can't be resolved until he knows Liam is safe. He pulls up right in front of Liam's house on the opposite side of the street, not caring if he can smell him. He sees the light in Liam's room is on and he takes a deep breath, closes his eyes, and listens.

Liam's heartbeats strong and steady, his scent filling up Theo's nose. Then two other heartbeats reach him. Theo recognize them as Liam's sleeping mom and step-dad. Liam's safe, he tells himself, there's no one else around. He knows he needs to tell Liam about the hunters and he will, tomorrow. He can't right now, not while he's covered in blood and the pain of being shot is slowly starting to set in. A part of Theo wants nothing more than to tell Liam right now. To go up there and have Liam take care of him, clean him up, hold him. He wants Liam to comfort him and chase away that lingering fear and loneliness. God, he wants Liam. He can't. He knows he can't have it, but he knows he needs to get cleaned up and start healing. Based on he fact that he's not, he's willing to bet there's a bullet or two stubbornly stuck in his body. Theo starts to drive away from Liam's house, comforted by knowing he's safe. He pulls out his phone to make a call when a text from Liam shows on the top of his screen.

**Baby Wolf -** you couldve come up

**Theo -** Was just making rounds

**Baby Wolf -** look at you protecting the town

**Baby Wolf -** say hi next time

Theo doesn't respond as the pain starts the steadily beat throughout his body. He remembers why he pulled out his phone in the first place and reluctantly swipes away from Liam's texts. He scrolls in his contacts until he finds what he's looking for and sighs as he clicks call. 

"Hello," they answer. 

Theo starts to feel weak and has trouble getting out his next words, "I could use that help you offered."


End file.
